T Bone Burnett is one smart producer.
He's realized it doesn't matter anymore if a contemporary pop artist sounds like one from the early days of rock, because chances are the younger audience won't notice - or care.
Fresh from making newcomer act Counting Crows sound like Van Morrison and The Band, he's given wife Sam Phillips's third album a distinctly Beatle sound. Martinis and Bikinis (out Tuesday) is chock-full of sonic references to mid-career Beatles, from Rubber Soul to Magical Mystery Tour - there's the jangly guitars (courtesy of R.E.M.'s Peter Buck), stately piano, harpsichord and strings, and sparkling pop vocal harmonies.
Phillips's "The Same Rain" has a fade-out similar to the Beatles's "Rain" (one of the Fab Four's most-copied songs, for '90s acts); "Strawberry Road" detours via "Eleanor Rigby" to capture the spirit of "Strawberry Fields". She comes out of hiding for a simple, affecting cover of John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth", the final track.
Phillips may not win high marks for originality (this will become known as her Beatle album), and it's not as good as her previous Cruel Inventions, but she remains a powerful pop presence.